In the clock art it has been well known to provide sound producing means associated with the clock motor and movement, either for the purpose of signalling a preselected time for awakening or the like or for regularly sounding the half hour or hour. Particularly in such prior art devices that function as alarm clocks, some means of shutting off the sound producing means has also been provided such as in Richmond U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,031. Although not as common in the clocks which sound the half hour and/or the hour, some of those prior art clock movements such as Wehinger U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,309 have been provided with chime shutoff means.
The prior art sound shutoff means, particularly those for clocks which regularly sound the half hour and/or hour, are complex and expensive to manufacture. Usually, the purchaser of a clock which regularly sounds the half hour and/or the hour has selected such a clock because he finds the ringing or chiming sound to be pleasant and is not desirous of shutting it off. There are, however, times such as when someone in the family is ill or perhaps there is an overnight guest that it becomes highly desirable to shut off or silence the regular interval sound-producing means. While such a feature may be desirable at such times, the purchaser of such clocks is not willing to expend a large amount of money for such an additional feature.